Coronation Chicken Salad with Pineapple and Rice

Coronation Chicken Salad with Pineapple is a cold salad meal that uses cooked chicken and rice, pineapple, raisins, nuts, flavored with a robust curry-flavored yogurt dressing. Culinary historians cite this salad was created for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1955. Even if we're not Brits, the savory-sweet flavors appeals to Filipinos and pairs well with vibrant Philippine dishes. Serve this as an appetizer or a meal in itself. This was inspired by cookbook author Nancie McDermott. Serves 6.

Prep Time40

Course: Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American, Asian, British

Keyword: Coronation Chicken Salad with Pineapple and Rice

Servings: people

Calories: 332kcal

Author: Asian in America - Elizabeth Ann Quirino

Equipment

Mixing Bowls - Large, medium and small
Rice cooker - to cook rice

Ingredients

Chicken Salad

½ cup raisins
3 Tablespoons warm apple cider or juice; heat in microwave for 30 seconds
2 teaspoons salt; divided, 1 teaspoon for chicken salad, rest for cooking rice
2 cups cooked white jasmine rice
1 cup canned pineapple chunks, drain liquid; or use fresh, cubed pineapple
2 cups cooked chopped chicken, small bite-sized cubes
8 stalks scallions, chopped, divided; use 1 cup of chopped scallions for rice, rest for garnish
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Curried Yogurt Salad Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
⅔ cup plain yogurt
3 Tablespoons Marukan rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
½ Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced fine

For garnish:

whole leaves of lettuce for cups; use Boston, Bib or Limestone; to line salad bowls or use as wraps
1 cup unsalted pistachio nuts; or use almonds, walnuts, or cashews

Instructions

To make the Chicken Salad:

In a small, non-reactive bowl, combine the raisins, warmed cider or juice. Set aside for raisins to plump up.
Prepare the cooked rice.
If you don't have cooked rice ready. Here's how to make rice: Wash the rice grains. Cook the rice with 1 teaspoon of salt in the rice cooker. Or cook rice stove-top. See my previous blog post how to cook rice. Set rice aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the plumped-up raisins and cooked rice. Pour the soaking liquid.
Add the pineapple chunks, bell pepper, cooked chicken, 1 teaspoon salt and cup of chopped scallions.
Combine everything well. Set aside and make the dressing.

To make the Curried Yogurt Salad Dressing:

In a medium-sized bowl, use a whisk or large spoon to blend together the ingredients: Mayonnaise, yogurt, rice vinegar, honey, curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, ginger and garlic.
Cover and refrigerate till ready to use.

To assemble salad:

Pour the dressing over the chicken-rice mixture. Blend ingredients well so that dressing coats everything.
Cover and refrigerate till ready to eat.

To serve salad:

Line individual salad bowls with lettuce leaves.
Spoon the chicken-rice salad mixture on the leaves. Sprinkle and spread the nuts evenly over all the servings. Garnish salad bowls with rest of chopped scallions and fresh parsley.
Serve chilled.

Cook's comments:

In her recipe, Nancie McDermott used a combination of jasmine white rice and wild rice. Feel free to use the cooked rice you prefer.
If there are allergies, omit the nuts.
Or if using nuts, use any unsalted nuts you like.
Sometimes, I have leftover rotisserie chicken and I chop it up to use for this salad if I'm in a rush.

Nutrition